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The mistress is not the problem for François Hollande. It’s the scooter. That
reaction from a French socialist summed up the dismay among sympathisers to
the apparent confirmation of the long-standing rumour of a presidential
liaison with Julie Gayet.

France has long tolerated, and even admired, the dalliances of its rulers.
Every president since at least Georges Pompidou in the early 1970s enjoyed
well documented marital aventures.

As far as presidents were concerned, the country’s famous law on privacy
effectively fell by the wayside in 1994 when François Mitterrand allowed the
publication of photographs of his illegitimate and hitherto secret

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Julie Gayet is by no means France’s biggest actress — not a Catherine Deneuve or a Sophie Marceau — but she has had a successful career, appearing in arthouse movies such as Clara et moi and popular productions such as Nos plus belles vacances.

She recently gave a widely acclaimed performance as a back-stabbing and sexually alluring government adviser in Quai d’Orsay, a film about intrigue at the French Foreign Ministry.

Gayet has performed in a wide range of scenes involving love-making and eroticism in films such as L’Homme d’après and Amoureuse (In Love) — sex being a common theme in French cinema.

When François Hollande’s campaign team asked French celebrities to record messages of support for him in 2012, one was particularly eulogistic.

"The first time I met him was for a quite informal lunch, out of curiosity," said a blonde French actress with a twinkle in her eye and a smile on her face. "I met a humble man, who was so formidable that as a result, here I am sitting before you."

The actress was Julie Gayet, whose admiration for Mr Hollande has since become more than political.

"He really listens and that is quite rare, very, very rare even," she said in the clip. "I am very impressed with him, you can talk about everything in detail."

Gayet was born in an affluent Paris suburb, the daughter of a surgeon who asked her to visit his patients, even when they were in the terminal stages of cancer. She has said that she first saw a dead body at the age of 7 and drew from the experience a desire to live life to the full.

Gayet went on to study at the Actors Studio in London before returning to France to begin a career in cinema and occasionally on television.

She is the joint owner of a production company, Rouge International, that she founded with the producer Nadia Turincev, which has brought out films in France, Chile and Slovenia.

She said that the name of the company was a careful choice: "Red like enraged but also like the Moulin Rouge [the cabaret] and red lipstick. We’re girls, after all."

Gayet said the creation of the company had changed her lifestyle, adding: "I drop the children off at school and go to the office."
Red is also her political colour. After backing Mr Hollande in the 2012 presidential campaign, she is now an active supporter of Anne Hidalgo, the Socialist candidate to become Mayor of Paris this year.

Mrs Hidalgo was last year forced to deny allegations that she, too, had had an affair with Mr Hollande in the 1980s.